Everything is connected to space - spaces which are made by people to live, to work, to relax, for different reasons. And for the single object or so, I try to look at the object and all the function I can bring or the choices we have to make now. For me, it's impossible to think about a chair which is not comfortable just because a line would need that.

0:42

Hello I'm Toan Nguyen. I'm a French designer based in Milan and I'm an industrial designer, and this is what we do everyday, from lighting, furniture, sanitary, every kind of object.

0:59

TWhat I like in Milan, or in Italy in general, is there is a good connection between craftsmanship and production. The name of my school is Les Atelier, which means "workshop." So in Milan there are still lots of companies making furniture, making all sorts of different lighting, glass, different materials.

1:28

And there is a huge culture of making. This is what is important also for design because my work is directly connected to the object, to the physical object. I'm not designing concepts or things which are very abstract.

1:46

What I always say when I start a project is I try to find a reason to do a project and products. So I don't try to create or add something to the pollution of objects. We are full of elements of products of all kinds, so we’re not anymore in the after-war period where the consumerism was well and the people missed so many things and afterwards, tried to get more and more and more, and created also a lot of trash.

2:22

My work is creating objects, so I have to put in question why should I make an object when there are a lot of objects on the market? With a new chair, a new sofa, I will not resolve the question of sitting. So sometimes design can be very based on an urgency, a deep need, but sometimes it's connected simply to the market of business.

2:52

Everybody says, "less is more" and it is something that you always hear, but you always hear this sentence with some objects which are not really the illustration of this sentence. It's just a pretext. But less doesn't mean less in quality or in value.

3:13

We don't need more, we need better. Or if it's not better, it's something which makes sense. Because in the world of today, there are some kinds of products of incredible sophistication, but they don't have anymore huge value.

3:30

But now, everybody can ask for huge flat screen and spend a very low amount of money. So it means it's quite disconnected to - you don’t have any logic, you don’t think you can remake it by yourself and make the glass panels, put together some cables. You cannot do. It’s very abstract.

3:52

But when we talk about furniture, lighting, or sanitary, you can understand there is a process. There is a very clear end process and I try to keep the value of the craftsmanship.